Dispatch from Home No. 3: Extended Quarantine Saddens

There are a few notes on the desktop screen, among them a quote from
Queen Elizabeth's message on this crisis. I really find it comforting.

A lot of headlines these past few weeks: Wimbledon cancelled. UAAP 83 cancelled. Testing expanded to the vulnerable in the population. Increasing number in recoveries and deaths. And more recoveries as of this writing! Boris Johnson admitted to ICU. And finally recovering!

But the most saddening news for me so far, the Enhanced Community Quarantine extended.

Why the most saddening if for the betterment of our community? That and more are what I have reflected on in the most recent weeks of the now-extended quarantine.

More groceries

Just a week after I bought groceries for the family and some medications for my mother, I was once again given the task to buy prescribed meds and do the groceries that I think would be enough for the supposedly last two weeks of the quarantine.

Of course, learning from my previous trip to supermarkets, I made a list beforehand, and I guess I had my mind set on groceries. It was the major thing I did the following day, thankfully with no pending work. 

I'm glad that at last the prescriptions for my mother were available. Getting the desired quantity took some challenge, though, since it took two branches to get abundant supplies of two of those prescriptions. 

In terms of groceries, it fits to say that I found sufficient supplies of almost all of the items in my list. It's good to see All Day, so far the supermarket I prefer, abundant with items. Of course, there were some that I haven't found there, but at least I got most of my groceries there. 

Yet, there seems to be open doors that you don't resort to one supermarket. I first thought the trip to All Day will be sufficient for all the groceries. In fact, I bought two boxes worth of groceries.

But, upon buying at another branch of Mercury Drug, plus some buying at Watson nearby, I grabbed the chance to buy Contadina and pepper at Shopwise. 

I did not just enter there once, but twice! 

There must be instinct in me that told me there might be some isopropyl alcohol there. I'm already there; why miss it?

So I did go back and got two bottles! And also a big Zonrox. And even bread, even when I'm the next to check out at the counter!

I just find it quite hilarious. 

Did I panic? I guess just a little, unlike the first buying. 

I'm glad to learn this lesson of taking opportunities at hand from our church's administrative pastor. In fact, it's because of him that I get to buy groceries during quarantine. 

Did I got some digestive trouble? Not much.

After Holy Week, I grabbed again the next opportunity to do groceries, since the quarantine was extended. Perhaps this time it would be easier, I thought.

Well, it went fine. I still got confused somehow going around the Shopwise. I haven't bought all I needed, which made me miss All Day. But it went fine even if I carried back home two boxes and some bags of groceries.

I guess no matter how much you prepare for it, groceries during quarantine is far from leisurely strolling with a cart.

It will often be tiring until we go back to a new normal, hopefully.

Church continues, so Lord's supper

The continuation of the church as a church is worth appreciating from time to time. Of course, the physical gathering and hangouts are missed. But, at least, the church is not cancelled during these times. 

Last April 5, our church held communion, which we called The Lord's Supper, online for the first time. I has this in mind when I bought groceries, including grape juice and crackers in my list. And that Sunday, I joined my mother and many others elsewhere observing this ordinance.

Missing using this coffee cup...

Class ECQ: Embracing adjustment

I guess until the quarantine ends, or even after it does, I'm still undertaking the quite rigorous course of adjustment.

Getting through the day either away from home or working from home appears to be just fine, but getting through days and weeks confined at home with other people, I realize, seems challenging. 

I might call myself a survivor at the end of each day. 

Because of this learning to adjust, things have been going on in my head: Can the day get through without being bothered by whatever channel is on TV? Will I be able to finish my work on the computer? Will there be again some music that might disturb my peace? When will this quarantine end? Lots of things. 

But I can simply console myself by telling myself that given that I live with the fam, although I'm the sole child living here (my sibs are at different locations now), all I can do is give way. Magbigayan.

Dad wants his sounds, fine, although switching from one playlist to another easily nags me (but I'm trying to put something different when I have the opportunity). Mom wants hers while doing something even while I sleep, fine as well. Ma needs some help at the computer, I have to assist, as I opine that offices should be training people already with tech stuff so that children at least have a lighter chore to do.

When things don't go my own way, I have to give way and adjust. Magpaubaya. Bigayan lang.

...and now I usually use this.

Musicking

I find it weird that I'm doing fine listening to my own sounds while at work even if there's already some sounds in the background. But when it comes to the house I'm already allergic because, among other things, cellphone sound sounds noisy (makalat) and I'm missing the culture of radio here (we have no more working radio component here)

In response to this resistance to the status quo, I made a move to play my sounds. I started with a concert of T-Square and Casiopeia, Japanese jazz fusion bands I like, and I guess it went well. I actually find it fitting while Dad paints—some non-vocal music, like jazz or another variation to it. 

I have also ventured on live concerts on YouTube, Crossover online through my phone, and a few albums on Deezer.

I'm also beginning to reunite with my penchant for classical and jazz, thanks to Sky Cable's temporary opening of numerous channels, including Stingray Classica and Mezzo Live HD.

I even searched for the schedule, especially Mezzo's for their upcoming jazz programs. There was lots of jazz on Saturday, so I really made sure to catch them. I've learned about Rymden in the first program. Came the next program and it was said it sounds sleepy (nakakaantok). I felt quite hurt. 

Comedy Central became a relief, thankfully. And I got back to Mezzo for the third jazz concert.

The next day I found something classical worth hearing on Stingray, good while I'm reading a book. Then something "masaya" was wanted instead. I empathize, but I felt also quite hurt.

I was already sad for a mix of reasons, and I felt sadder. My doubt whether I have been selfish also made me sad.

Good thing, I got back to the channel hours later to hear "Spring" of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons"

I will visit the channels whenever I have the chance. And I'm thinking of subscribing to Mezzo, adding it to the add-ons I pay for aside from the usual cable rate.

Fifteen more days

I looked forward to the remaining weeks of the quarantine, anticipating it's end, expecting to be going to the office and chatting with some people there, expecting to go out on weekends, expecting to visit Tim Hortons, expecting to saunter around Greenbelt and Glorietta after early coverages in Makati (or Market Market in BGC), and not having to worry where the TV will be on (wala kasing radyo eh). 

Then came April 7, around 11am, I guess, TV's on PTV4, Karlo Nograles doing a public briefing, answering questions from media. I confess I was in the bathroom seated at the toilet.

Then I heard Mr. Nograles confirming that the president declares the extension of the ECQ until April 30 at 11:59pm. 

That changed the mood of the day. 

I understand that it had to be done to further curb the spread of COVID-19 in the country, but personally I'm saddened.

15 more days. Two more weeks plus a few days. That went on my mind, and I guess I'll do a countdown come the 15th. (So it's, 11 days left)

Again, if there was some personal space here I guess it would be finer. At the TV or online, I found myself easily looking at the background of people in their homes, concluding most of the time that they're streaming at the comforts of wider spaces. I envy them.

But 15 more days. 15 more days of "house arrest". 

15 more days of working on the computer I used to let go of. 15 more days of WFH not just as a Special Features writer, but as the house's in-house "no choice" IT officer, and hopefully the house's DJ and assistant. 15 more days of feeling tensions. 15 more days of having the so-called "fear of losing control", as White Horse Inn's Michael Horton pointed out. 

I'm not ungrateful for what I now have and enjoy. In fact, I'm reminded to be thankful. It should be my consolation that I'm doing well while others out there are struggling either fighting the virus or having no home to reside in (and there must be some bad feeling for not having a way to help them out). 

I'm not ungrateful. I'm just worried, like everybody else. 

Well, I have no choice. I, and all, has got to hold on.

Kapit lang.

Sense of fulfillment remains

A good thing I console myself with during these times is the sense of fulfillment in my work. Our paper's group, Philstar Media Group, has a microsite that provides information about and related to COVID-19. I'm honored to be part of this initiative through the articles I write.

One of them, something about the pandemic's effects on small businesses, is something I will endear. It has received favorable feedback from some of my bosses. Praise God for that! Even the other following that have also been appreciated.

I'm glad I'm doing some service during this crisis. I hope it greatly helps many.

Wake Me Up When April Ends

As I write this blog, I've realized that someone like me who used to hate rants on Twitter can easily do the same on his personal platform. Wow. If there's something to encapsulate all these, I guess it would be a Green Day classic, performed by its lead in an acoustic guitar at the recent Together At Home concert aired around the world.

I tweeted last Sunday: When I heard Billy Joe Armstrong play "Wake Me Up When September Ends" on acoustic guitar, interspersed with a montage of empty spaces, I felt it. I might as well say it [mirrors] my quarantine mood.